Hyper real
by dourdan
Summary: Intro- based on the idea of "what if Fulgore was a human in a suit"- and it went from there. i never relal yunderstood the Killer instinct plot; so there is my idea of a plot, if the character were more "real."
1. Chapter 1

The young, pretty blonde military wife was in the passenger seat of the midsize suv; they always wanted a big car, better for road trips and someday- a family. They were off base in the middle of what Maya liked to call the Germany bad lands. By day these areas were lovely, but my night they were un-lit streets of pure darkness, where the only clue you were still on this earth were lights of an oncoming car.

At a 4 way stop; in between small towns; the mysterious car plowed straight in to them. this car was reinforced with something; no normal car could have completely smashed in the front of their car the way it did.

He had been driving; Air force SSgt Shawn Cree. He was an aspiring pararescue trainee, but those openings were hard to come by, so until then he trained his body in 4 different martial arts, weight training and marathon running. He hoped that his peak physical shape and combat skills might help him secure a sport in a future class. But that dream died that night.  
The front of the car had the newlyweds pinned to their seats. Maya's arms and legs were broken, but god did not allow her the mercy of falling unconscious. She was sure she had broken ribs and she could not move her mouth without horrifying pain, but through it all she felt her husband holding her hand. She could feel him shivering and she could her him struggling to breathe. Maya didn't want to turn her head; she didn t want to have to watch him. He squeezed her hand harder, as if to show he was still alive and perhaps even trying to get free of the wreckage.  
She turned her head; and that's when she saw it- the driver of the other car. A she did not get a good look at his face, but she what she saw was far more disturbing. The arm reached in with a pistol-like weapon, firing a single shot to the back of Shawn s head. Then the arm brought out a welding torch-like item and cut the body out of the car.

It would be 30 minutes before police arrived. Maya was not well enough to give a statement until 14 days later. By then it was too late; the police had no leads. It wasn't like they didn t believe her; clearly she was not the driver of the car and clearly there was a hole in the car where SOMEONE removed the body of the driver.

She had no family in Germany so when she was well enough she was sent back to Arkansas to live with her parents. That was over a year after the accident. Her father picked up from their airport; she was still in a wheelchair. Her bone were mostly healed but she still needed help with basic skills and would need at least a year of physcial thrapy. But that just meant she had lots of time.

Her father, Matt "tusk" Carter was a long haired big game hunter and conspiracy theorist. He lived off the grid with a wife that was far too tolerant of his 'hobbies'. They lived off the land, with acres of 'garden' land and an unregistered car (that her mom used to take her to physical therapy appointments.)  
Even if she qualified for financial support as a military spouse, she figured her dad would probably burn the check. Shawn was missing, not dead- so the military was holding on to his life insurance policy for now.

"Not like you even need the money; you're doing just fine. You ll be back on your feet in no time." her father would say- every time she brought up her medical bills. She was on temporary disability but that would not last. She would eventually need to pay something towards her recovery care.  
Then out of nowhere she got a check and a letter. Shawn was being declared dead. Not because enough time had passed, but because body parts were found. A trash collector found hands, feet and pieces of bone mixed in with garbage on the side of the highway.

But no head, no organs, Maya cried until she made herself sick. Her mother helped her in to bed and brought her some tea and cough medicine to put her to sleep.

"Something don't feel right." Tusk said to his wife.

"please don't..." she knew what her husband was planning.

"...they can't do this to our little girl." he said picking up his pack.  
"where exactly are you going?" she asked him.

"North Dakota; I have a lead" he said. He went to a stack of papers he printed from the library. (since they had no electricity). There was a strange phenomenon taking place around the world; military members going missing and body parts being found days, weeks or even years later. Some called it terrorism, some said these deaths were not connected, but this was too much of a coincidence. But he was headed to North Dakota because that state had more body (pieces) dumps than any other, which was odd since it had no (reported) missing military personnel.

And in the backwoods of North Dakota, a regular hunter/survivalist would hopefully not draw too much attention.

He would be gone for over 18 months.

In that time Maya got better, got a job and moved out. Her mother slipped in to depression; as if she already knew the man she loved was never coming back. 


	2. Chapter 2

North Dakota; deep in the wilderness, in an area owned by the government but not open or (known to) the public- Tusk searched, following the pattern of death, to an area with a very hidden base of operations. But he would get nowhere near it.

He had a small film camera; typical spy stuff- it looked like a toy. He knew he needed something visual; he got images of the location of the base, the notable shape of the buildings... and the robot monster that was about to cut his head off.

The robot had very human like moves. Tusk pulled out his giant knife. some might call it a sword, but for his purposes it was always just an oversized knife.

He had a size advantage but this robot was fast, and with blades attached to both it's arms, it slashed up Tusk's chest and shoulder. The cuts were so deep the attack left him gasping for air. But he got in one good hit; a head shot that dented the helmet; yes, it was a helmet, there was a human being under the robotic armor.

Not just any human; it was Shawn. Through cracks in the visor area, human eyes were visible. Tusk made sure the camera went off one last time; this was the picture he desperately needed. Then he felt a horrifying burning sensation like someone hit him with a red hot frying pan. He turned to see another robot, but this one appeared to be made of fire. He did not even try to take a picture of this one. He made his escape by leaping off a high ledge, disappearing in to thick trees.

Like any 30 foot fall he did not walk away unscathed but all thay mattered at the moment was walking away as fast as possible. He walked until he collapsed. He awoke at a very large (for a campsite), high tec tent.

"I think he's awake..." said a woman's voice.

"you deal with it." said another woman much further away.  
Tusk was on a medical cot that barely fit his height. He sat up an immediately fell to one side. He caught himself with his left leg- which he now realized was broken.

"I'll try to find a bigger bed," said the woman, nervously. "I'm Kim Wu, I'm kind of the new kid here." she said bringing out a chair that might be more comfortable for someone of his height. She was pretty with bright red hair and angelic blue eyes- but she did not look like someone who would be named 'Wu.'

"where is 'here'?" he asked, since she looked approachable and kind. "oh, this is..."

"KIM!" the other woman shouted.

"sorry, Orchid." she flinched. "Let s just say we're classified- and we've heard of you." Kim nodded, yes, that sounded reasonable.

"we are in a dead zone," she explained, this would be the hard part, "no phones, no email, just data collection. no one comes in her unless they are scheduled to- meaning... we cannot get you to a hospital." her voice was cracking as if she was about to cry. She was essentially telling him was going to die here. "the next data pick up is in 3 days... we will fly you out at that time. But until then, I'm a trained medic and I will be in charge of your care."

When he was unconscious she cleaned and bandaged the massive 4th degree burn that covered most of his back. She administered antibiotics but it would not be enough.

"i'm sorry, i need you to lay back down, maybe on the floor." she moved some of the hospital grade blankets to make a comfortable space. She rolled him on his side, and tried to hold back her emotions, as she washed off dead flesh and sanitized exposed bone.

He did not complain, although she could feel him shivering. She removed her gloves and touched his face, he had a high fever. "did you take my camera?" he asked in a forced breath. "did the last picture come out?" he quickly added; they could keep the camera for all he cared, but he needed to know if he saw what he thought he saw.

"I'll go ask." Kim went to her supervisor, a brunette woman named Orchid. Orchid was young a pretty but rather hard edge. Kim was not sure she would even be given access to the photos, but surprisingly Orchid immediately printed off a copy for her.  
"he would only ask if he already knew who this was." she said sternly, passing off the image. Kim returned to Tusk's side and handed him the picture. It was clear as day. "Do you know who that is?" "SSgt Shawn Cree, my son in law." he said, struggling to take a breath. Lying in his back, the pain was shooting through him muscles, causing spasms that threatened to block his airway.  
"...his body was stolen from the scene of a car accident" he swallowed hard.

Kim tried to lift his head to give him some water, but the motion caused him to cough violently. She moved away and returned to Orchid. "Can we ask the pickup helicopter to get here sooner." Kim asked, as calmly as possible.

Orchid rolled her eyes. "The helicopter is coming from a location on the other side of the country. 3 days is the soonest it could get here is. -Did you ask him about the picture?"  
"yes, this is SSgt Shawn Cree, his son in law. He said the body was stolen from the scene of a traffic accident." Kim answered, trying to maintain her professional demeanor.  
"Thank you Kim that will be all."

Kim went to look for whatever painkillers she could give the poor man. There were only pills. And she knew if she gave him pills he would likely vomit them back up. Depressed and defeated, she knelt beside him; his eyes remained closed as if he was trying to meditate the pain away, "will you tell my daughter?"

"what should I tell her?" Kim asked, her hand slipped in to his, she traced her fingers over his large masculine hands. She felt him trying to hold her hand.

"tell her, Shawn has been found." he started to fall asleep, " tell her .I didn t fail her..."  
Kim went to sleep next to him, her hand never leaving his. She did as good of a job as she could, she said a prayer for him to at least live through the night.

That prayer was horrifyingly interrupted. After finally falling asleep, Kim awoke to the man convulsing; blood oozed from his mouth, ears and eyes. This was NOT normal infection. Kim put her arms around him, as if to hold him, allowing a bit of comfort in his final moments. She stroked her hands down the bare skin of his neck; that's when she felt it- an injection site.

Kim shot to her feet, the injection site was still leaking, and the fluid was burning her hand. She screamed and turned on all the lights. Orchid casually emerged from her sleeping quarters. "It had to be done. But I was hoping he could die quietly; to not wake you .

The injection was an amped up version of a local snake poison; so when the local authorities find the body they will assume it was an accidental death." Orchid explained as she proceeded to clean up.  
"You have to understand, he was out here because a family member was missing; can you imagine what would happen if he told people that their loved ones might still be alive? Orchid said, walking towards her now terrified assistant, her hands covered in toxic blood. He might have survived his initial injuries; we couldn t risk that- This was necessary, for the sake of our mission." Orchid looked Kim in the eyes with a robotic coldness.

But Kim was still in shock. This was murder, no matter the reasoning.

Orchid patted Kim on the shoulder, leaving behind a blood stain."I'll tell you what, when the pickup helicopter comes you can leave here, to return his belongings to his family." Notice she said 'belongings' not body . Orchid would likely get rid of the body after Kim left. "I can live with that." Kim replied, somewhat fearfully.

"good. I trust you to not divulge too much information." With that, Orchid went back to bed.

Kim took his sword, and his wallet. She looked for anything that would point her in the right direction; perfect she said, locating a small wallet size picture of a military groom and his young blonde bride. Even with the small size she could tell it was the SSgt he spoke of earlier- so this woman must be his daughter, maya she read, from the back of the photo. Kim vowed to find this "Maya", but was it Maya Cree or Maya Carter? -A quick Google search would reveal the answer. "Maya Cree, jungle goddess- at the Golden Angel gentlemen's club." His daughter was a stripper. 


	3. Chapter 3

Iowa-

Kim Wu followed the address on the "gentlemen's club" website. She asked the door man when Maya would be working; claiming to be a family friend. with Kim s professional yet innocent demeanor this seemed plausible. This was also who no one flinched when she brought in Tusk's giant "knife." And put it on the table in front of her (where tips usually go) as she sat down.

Maya was not the first dancer of the night. The 3 people that went on before her, talked about the strange red haired girl with the sword at her table. When it was Maya s turn on the stage her eyes scanned the room for the person.

She recognized the sword right away and she (for lack of a better word) lost her s t. WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT?! she screamed launching in to an attack. Kim sprang on to the stage and they two engaged in combat, punching and kicking with martial arts precision. Maya had training.

Kim let her win; just to see how far Maya would go. Maya pinned her to the ground. Security was just watching. Maybe they were too shocked; maybe they thought this scene was sexy. Or mabe they knew Maya would never take it further then necessary.

outside now.. she said dragging Kim to the exit (after grabbing the sword and Kim s stuff- so it would not get stolen.)

talk- she said when Maya was sure they had the alleyway to themselves.

I made a promise to your father. Kim said, almost tearful. She was already building a story in her head; a story where she knew Tusk for more than just the 24 hour period where she watched him die. Maya pulled up a trash bag to use as a chair/stool, how did he die? she asked very matter of fact. I have been wondering for over a year- I want the story.

he died locating your husband. Kim was not sure why she chose to open with that. Now she had some explain to do. I m a conspiracy theorist too. I was out there investigating sightings of alien-like creatures, but these alien-like creatures were actually kidnapped soldiers with mechanically enhanced bodies. Oh crap. That might have gone too far.

Where is this place? Maya asked, with an intensity that read I will be able to tell if you are lying.

why? kim asked meekly.

what do you mean WHY?! maya started to get angry.

you can t go there. Kim, still meekly.

Because I have something to lose? I am working here to pay off my obscene amount of debt, my husband is missing, my father is dead- and my mom hung herself 2 weeks after I left home! she shouted, the calmed down, can you at least tell me where the body is?

That struck a nerve. Kim was not cut out for this. If Orchid was in this situation she would have said a quick no and walked away.

But Kim had a too much of a heart. She could still feel Tusk s last breath on her skin as she held him close. His hair, eyes, his skin; maybe if his daughter did not inherit his Nordic beauty, Kim would be able to push those memories away- but every time she looked at Maya she was overcome with guilt.

Tusk was a strong, heroic man who died because Orchid said so. He died because their little paramilitary group wanted all the credit for taking down some very evil people. Kim was not really even in the military. She was hired on as a medic because she went to nursing school.

The more she thought about it the more she felt she owed Orchid nothing. We ll go back. The words fell out like items tumbling off a shelf.

where? Maya asked, not even sure if this offer was real.

North Dakota. I ll show you where I put his remains. I ll even pay for your plane ticket That middle part was certainly a lie, but words were spilling like water now, so there was no going back. In the hours that followed Kim would spin a tale of passionate love; a love that lasted months, as she searched alongside Tusk for the source of the aliens/super soldiers. he talked about you all the time, Kim added as she helped Maya pack and they got a cab to the airport.

As they waited for their flight to board, Kim ended her tale with Tusk being attacked and mortally wounded, but instead of dying in 24 hours- in this version she cared for him for well over a week before he finally died of illness due to infection. She even cried at this part.

did you try to signal for help? Maya asked, but still gave Kim a hug.

I guess I could have tried to move us out of the area, but drawing attention to ourselves was not an option. You ll know what I mean when we get there. They boarded their flight and quickly arrived in Bismark.

Kim knew she was royally screwed. She could never go back to Orchid. That psycho would likely kill both of them. She needed to way to get supplies or weapons (ideally both.) She needed a plan. She knew Maya had money but, to ask would make Kim look like a fraud. So she needed a plan.

She turned to Maya, how well trained are you exactly?

trained well enough. Maya replied. and-as I said before; I have nothing to lose.

Well that s good because we will need to hike to a location, then break in to a place that may or may not hold very armed individuals. Kim said, hoping Maya would not back out or call BS on her very bizarre story.

cool. I ll go buy snacks. Maya said, exiting to a nearby store.

Kim was greatfull for her trust. And as Maya paid for water and snacks, Kim said a prayer. I m not sure if angels or ghosts exist, but Tusk, if you can hear me, please watch over us. She closed her eyes as she felt the start of tears.

I promise you, I will not be a coward; I will give my life to protect Maya. .. how I should have protected you. She said the last part in silence and bit her tongue to regain focus.

ok, lead the way. Maya returned, happy, hopeful and ready for whatever lie ahead. 


	4. Chapter 4

Sometimes we leave our souls behind Maya muttered as she took down a large bird with just a knife and a handmade bow. ..in the wilderness; in nature. She was not at all concerned with the illegal act she just performed- she proceeded to decapitate the animal and pluck the feathers. She always felt at home among the trees. you have the fire started yet? She shouted at Kim. Kim was perpetually worried; she knew that in addition to the super-soldier creations, Orchid s forces would be around somewhere. who did you want to find first? Kim asked, giving her the choice between Tuck s fake burial location or the very security heavy complex that may have her husband. shawn. Was Maya s choice, after all Shawn might still be alive. That made Kim day, she could put off making up a burial story for Tusk, just a little longer. At least she actually knew where the robotics complex was.

And Kim had seen the information Orchid had- so she knew how to make it inside without getting killed right away. However she did not know what she would find when she entered nor did she have any kind of plan. Kim left it all up to Maya; they would find Shawn or die trying (or both.)  
They did not plan on being attacked by Orchid s forces almost immediately. They had been monitoring the facility and were not supposed to actually attack until they had an opening- but Orchid was being a little resentful.

HOW DID I KNOW YOU WOULD DO THIS! Orchid yelled way louder then she should have. Her partner Jago was back at the tent headquarters (so if this went badly both of them would not die), and he was lecturing her through an ear piece.

area is NOT secure, I repeat NOT secure. He said as he could see heat signatures of incoming troops in his radar.

Orchid didn t care; she gave Kim- a stupid nursing student- a chance. She almost considered Kim a friend.

grab it! Maya shouted, tossing a pipe at Kim. She hoped Kim would have the skill to use it as a weapon against the heavily armed Orchid.

Maya still had her father s sword. She really should have left it at the campsite, but she didn t want to go in completely unarmed. She hacked away at Orchid s force (which was not too difficult since there were maybe 4 people tops) and Maya was ungodly fast even with such a large sword.

Km dodged Orchid s attacks. Orchid, perhaps out of honor attacked only with night sticks attacked to her wrists (even though she had several fire arms in her possession.) Kim got a few hits in but Orchid prevailed, knocking Kim off her feet then smashing her in the face repeatedly.

What did you even tell his daughter? Orchid snickered as Kim slowly lost consciousness. She finally pulled out her pistol and shot Kim dead with a single bullet. She continued to yell at the corpse DID YOU TELL HER HE DIED A HERO?! she spit on the dead body Did you tell her you fell in love with him.. with that Orchid suddenly felt the massive sword stab through her back.

Maya paused amongst the chaos. She had not heard any of what Orchid said she knew only that Kim was shot dead. She gasped for breath, Maya was close to exhaustion but she knew she was not finished here.

drop your weapon. A very digital voice said.

Maya turned to see what looked like a robot made of fire. no. she spun around and slashed the fire creature s legs. Then another creature made of ice hit her in the face causing her to slash madly at the air. Something tried to grab her arms, so she kicked this 3rd opponent in the knee (to escape) and regained her stance. She was now face to face with a robot that looked like an actual robot.

A sane person would have run when she had the chance, but Maya instead slammed her sword in to the robot s neck in hopes of decapitating it. Flesh was revealed. She hit him again and again until he stayed down.

With a strength that her body usually did not possess, she dragged the robot/person in a suit out of the building. No one came after her. At the time she really didn t think about it. Maybe who ever ran the place saw this robot/robot suit as defective- so they didn t care if she took it. She took the body back to the campsite, well over 200 feet from the building. Then she slashed at the head until she removed the helmet.

shawn .. she took a step back. She really did not expect this. Maya sat a few feet away, not touching the man for well over an hour. Sitting cross-legged, facing away; Maya prayed then she cried; she wished more than anything to not be alone. Even if it meant getting shot at and dying by her husband s side; she needed direction, she needed a sign.

Just then Shawn woke up. His eyes had been blinded to better focus his mind on the programming. He could see only pure white, but that was a welcome change from the blackness of data that was force fed in to his brain. Maya . He said in a breath. The image of her in the car crash was the last memory of his humanity. He assumed she was dead. He couldn t feel his arms or legs. Breathing was stiff and painful. He was in too much pain to be dead or even paralyzed.

shawn? Maya started to remove the robotic suit from his body, but parts of it were actually held to his bones with bolts and wielding. Chipping away at the metal with whatever she could find, she removed enough to expose his throat, and one shoulder.

She was too emotionally tired to continue.

Maya lay by his side, holding his hand. It wasn t much but at least she was not longer alone. 


End file.
